


Unfinished Business

by ZutaraBeliever



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Confessions, Grief/Mourning, Implied Relationship, Loss, M/M, Reincarnation, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-13 08:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18936964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZutaraBeliever/pseuds/ZutaraBeliever
Summary: His heart raced as he began to set up for another shot, looking down to reset the flash bulb. It was only when he looked back up that it truly dawned on him.Where the buck was, now nearly pressed to Alberts camera lens, was a faint silhouette, reaching towards him.Albert recognized it in an instant.





	Unfinished Business

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS IMPLIED FOR THE WHOLE GAME!

It didn’t hit him at first, that majestic buck nibbling at grass across the way was anything extraordinary, but as it gets closer, Albert had to do a double take.

There was a silver lining around the deer, a halo of sorts as it looked up and directly at him.  He was surprised when the deer edged its way closer and closer, its steps cautious but not overly, like the other deer.  Albert was even more surprised when he captured a photo and the buck didn't begin to run.  It just edged closer until it was right in front of Albert and his camera.

His heart raced as he began to set up for another shot, looking down to reset the flash bulb.  It was only when he looked back up that it truly dawned on him.

Where the buck was, now nearly pressed to Alberts camera lens, was a faint silhouette, reaching towards him.

Albert recognized it in an instant.

Recognized him. “Arthur?” Albert swallowed as a few tears streamed down either cheek. He had had his worries, and his own doubting thoughts about where the outlaw had ended up,  but it wasn't until he was high up in the hills of Annesburg trying to capture hawks that he found it.

Arthurs grave. He had paid respects, which included watering the ground with his tears.Arthur may never have known Alberts true feelings,  but by god did Albert pray he did.They’d met too many times to count and every time Albert left with a spring in his step and a tune in his heart.  Oh how he’d fallen like a fool for the outlaw.  He hadn’t felt the same since Arthur left him that day after the eagles.  Albert had heard a man, who looked like the one in his largest photo, had come to Saint Denis to look at his gallery.  He knew it had been Arthur, and though he hadn't seen him, the thought brightened Alberts world.

He hoped to find Arthur again, and in a way he had now.

Albert reached his hand out to take the ghostly visage of Arthur's...but it disappeared before contact.  Alberts eyes shot from where their hands had been to the Buck, its eyes shining with the same blue Albert had long since committed to memory as the most beautiful color in the world.  Only one other creature in his life had had those eyes.

He let more tears fall as his breath hitched, the flashbulb and camera forgotten as Albert wrapped his arms around the bucks neck.

“Arthur.” Albert cried a bit into the bucks fur.  Anyone would think him foolish, a man crying in the tuffs of a wild animals fur, but he knew, some part of him did at least, that this was Arthur,  dead and reborn into a creature that could live a happy life.

Albert wiped his eyes before the Buck sniffed at him and began to lick his face in a sense of recognition.  That made him smile

“Seems you finally stopped sneaking up on me.” Albert grinned and petted the creature behind the ear.  The buck nuzzled Alberts beard and licked his nose, causing Albert to chuckle.  He went for his bag and grabbed a few berries he’d picked and offered them to the buck, sighing as the creature ate them from his hand.

“I…” Albert wanted to say it, knew Arthur was in there and could hear him, but his heart ached for this to be the man he loved, not his soul in the body of an animal.  He closed his eyes and the tears started once more before the buck nudged the satchel from Alberts side,letting a book of photos flop out.

Albert looked to the open book and let the wind blow a few pages before it stopped on Arthurs photo, smaller than the gallery but still as stunning.  It was worn on the edges and looked as though it had fingerprints on it.  The deer plopped down and laid before the open book, looking at Albert.

The photographer wiped his eyes again and came to sit beside the deer, holding the book up.

“I've..shot a lot since that gallery.” Albert chuckled through tears.  He swallowed hard and was about to go into detail when his hand rested on the back of the bucks neck.

He closed his eyes and squeezed, tears falling to the ground.

“I love you…” he finally let go.  He began to sob and felt a hand caress his cheek, a thumb just touching the edge of his cheek bone.

“I love you too..” He heard in a faint whisper, as if the wind itself were trying to communicate.  Alberts eyes shot open but he saw no one but the deer,who had raised its head and was nudging Albert as best it could.

Albert smiled softly and cleared his throat.

“Well..how about we start in the Grizzlies?” Albert chuckled softly, trying to still his heart.  He was looking at the book of photos when the buck nudged him, seemingly narrowing its eyes.

“Don't look at me like that. I wasn't going after bears!” Albert chuckled and the deer huffed before laying its head down again to look at the book.“...it wasn't my fault a few showed up…” He mumbled,  getting another hard nudge from the deer.  But Albert laughed it off and pet the deer with one hand as he showed off the photos, his heart feeling as though a great weight had been lifted.

 

He knew where his handsome outlaw had ended up,finally at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this sadness!   
> It was just a short little one shot I wanted to post!   
> Happy crying everyone!


End file.
